Salmond longest-serving First Minister

Congratulating Mr Salmond on the achievement, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pointed out that he has also become the longest serving government or parliamentary party leader anywhere in the UK.

During his time as First Minister, Mr Salmond has been up against 11 opposition leaders in the Scottish Parliament, there have been three UK Prime Ministers, and he has worked with four First Ministers from Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ms Sturgeon said: “The people of Scotland overwhelmingly trust the Scottish Government headed by Alex Salmond - 71 percent trust the Scottish Government to act in Scotland’s interests, up from 51 percent under the previous Lab/Lib Executive in 2006, and compared to just 18% who trust the UK Government.

“In 2011, people in Scotland gave a remarkable vote of confidence in Alex Salmond’s leadership and the team, record and vision of the SNP - delivering an overall majority at Holyrood, and becoming the only First Minister to win two elections.

“It is this record of success that will help win a Yes vote in the referendum for an independent Scotland in autumn 2014.

“People in Scotland know what can be achieved with devolved powers - and we believe that the case for Scotland to be governed equally well in all areas with the powers of independence will be unanswerable in 2014.”